No one seemed to be familiar of who Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich was, when it was announced that the Russian Billionaire had purchased Chelsea Football club in 2003. He was young, publicity shy, a governor of a far frozen province in Russia and had made a plethora of money in oil and gas. Abramovich belonged to rather humble beginnings, he was born in 1966 in Saratov into a Jewish family, but he would be an orphan age 5 and was brought up by his uncle, then his grandmother in Moscow. He studied highway engineering although no evidence exist that he graduated and entered the army for his national service, when he came out in 1986, the world was changing.
Mikhail Gorbachev was now endeavouring to reform the creaking soviet state, introducing the concept of Glasnost (openness) and perestroika (economic and political restructuring). Abramovich seized the opportunity and began on a series of businesses, some successful some not, one involved the trade in toys especially rubber ducks out of an apartment he shared with his first wife in Moscow. It bought him a handsome income compared with others in the Soviet Union, the collapse of the Soviet Union presented ambitious men with greater more controversial opportunities.
The exact nature of Abramovich’s early fortune is rather ambiguous, but what is apparent that he soon moved into trading in oil, arguably Russia’s prominent natural resource. In the chaotic post-communist years that industry was fraught with danger, but the rewards for those who navigated it were huge, by 1993 Abramovich was considered of sufficient interest to be invited to meeting on a yacht in the Caribbean featuring some of the leading businessmen to profit from the post-soviet era. There Abramovich met Boris Berezovsky a mathematical genius who had made a fortune in trading Soviet made cars, the two agreed on that fateful day to try and rationalize the oil industry through vertical integration, essentially grouping different companies involve in extracting and refining oil under one umbrella company which they would control.
This was realized thanks to the now infamous loans for share program, Boris yelstin was elected as Russia’s first post-communist president in part of role in ending a coup in 1991. He embarked on a series of painful free market reforms, by 1996 his re-election campaign up against communist Ganado was in the balance. He desperately needed monetary aid and good press, so he struck a deal with Russia’s newly enrich oligarchs they would ensure his elections and in return would be given first dibs on privatization of the state assets. With yelstin’s campaign of an running and road to road positive coverage in media controlled by his oligarchs, he won the elections, subsequently Russia’s most valuable state assets were sold at a fraction of the market price.
After the election Abramovich bought Sibneft for 100 million dollars, it is anticipated that its true worth was close to 3 billion. It made him a billionaire at a time when most Russian citizens were struggling to put food on the table, under Yeltsin the oligarchs welded extraordinary power and became despised in Russia for their greed and exploitation. But by the end of the 90’s yelstin was ill and struggling with alcoholic addictions, he was forced to resign at a time when he was deeply unpopular, largely courtesy of the economic depression in 1998 when the Rubble collapsed.
Enter Vladimir Putin a former KGB man who had built a power base in his native ST Petersburg and was yelstin choice of replacement. Berezovsky as well as other Russian oligarchs like Alisher Usmanov had their own ambitions for power or reforms and didn’t consider Putin as much of a threat, Abramovich on the contrary quickly aligned himself with Putin, who had promised that he would smash the oligarchs and bring their wealth back under state control. One by one their fortunes were taken, their assets seized and majority of oligarchs Jailed primarily on taxation charges.
Abramovich wasn’t arrested or threatened, Putin demanded absolute loyalty if the oligarchs were to keep their fortune. Including abandoning any thoughts of political power, part of that according to defectors and several investigations involved paying a form of tribute, Abramovich and others allegedly contributed millions of dollars to projects close to Putin. Like investing in a black see palace that has been dubbed as Putin’s palace. Abramovich has always denied this.
Abramovich has been a key Putin ally he sold sibneft in 2005 to Gazprom for 13.1 Billion dollars making him one of the richest Men in the world. He was governor of a remote province of Russia until 2008 and a key figure in Russia successful bid to host the 2018 FIFA world cup. Although it is for his investment in Chelsea Football club that he is best known around the globe. His carefree attitude to spend including 2 billion pound in his first 10 years has transformed the game, petrifying other top clubs who could not compete financially .
Being a millionaire was no longer enough, only a member of Billionaire club could compete, under his watch Chelsea were transformed into one of the biggest clubs in the world, since 2003 no English club has won more silverware than Chelsea. Abramovich’s reasons for purchasing Chelsea remain opaque given his discrete nature and given the publicity buying a premier league club was bound to associate. But given that Abramovich has kept his fortunes while many of Yeltsin’s oligarchs have lost theirs buying Chelsea perhaps made sense, football gave him a non-threatening international profile and perhaps even insurance to all being taken away.
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